Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer | Be a Little Shellfish Birthday

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by!

I just wanted to start out by saying how grateful I am to all of you that have been reaching out. Not only is it encouraging to know that I have been able to bring some inspiration to your card making, it's incredibly comforting to know that behind the screens are real people that care and miss me. Loneliness is a terrible feeling, especially when you're surrounded by people. It means a lot that people I've never met have taken the time to reach out and just check in. It really can make all the difference in the world on a bad day. Thank you.

Today, I want to share a card I created using the Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer Dies. This is fast becoming my favourite interactive die set, and if you've been following along, you know I have most of them. I love how you can tell a little story without taking up additional space, this set is brilliant.

I began by stamping all the images on the front with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, colouring them with Copic markers and fussy cutting them out.

I cut the pieces for the Magic Picture changer out of the same 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and used my Dollar Store ink blending brushes with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to shade the outsides and the closed position of the changer, Salty Ocean and Mermaid Lagoon for the waves, which were cut down using the stitched wave dies.

When you pull up the little tab to get the second image, this super sweet little Shellfish appears, he was coloured with Copic markers, masked off and the same blue was used to blend around him.

Once the mechanism was together, I used the light blue from the Really Rainbow Scallops 6x6 paper pack along with the largest of the Large Stitched Rectangles for my background. Then adhered the mechanism with foam tape - this gives the recipient an easier time when trying to pull the tab.

Next I added the greeting to the front-most wave and adhered them in place, then added all my little party-going sea creatures.

To finish off the card I added some iridescent bubbles from Studio Katia, and Spectrum Noir clear glitter pen over the shell.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Interactive Masculine Birthday Card | ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a masculine card (and video) featuring -- SURPRISE!!! Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies. I needed to create a birthday card for my grandfather who turned 86 this year! 86!! And still strong as an ox. He's totally one of my favourite people in the whole world and he got a real kick out of this card. We had his birthday dinner on Saturday (Chinese food - because that's what he loves) and he thought it was great. He even texted me during dinner to say thank you.

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

When you watch the video, you'll see that my process isn't really as smooth as it generally is. Or at least as smooth as think I am because I had a little person talking at me and asking me questions and trying to get me to do stuff for her. 

I used Distress Oxide inks to create a simple background so that my little scene wasn't just floating in the middle of nowhere, I used Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass; there is absolutely nothing special about this. I just wanted to get colour on my panel.

I used Lawn Fawn Dye Inks to stamp my little water patch from the Dad & Me set, I knew that it wasn't going to be a solid stamped image and tried to use that to my advantage by restamping the image a second and third time with a lighter colour ink to make it look more like actual water.

I wanted to finish off the inside of the card, something I don't typically do. For this one I stamped the images in second generation Distress Oxide ink and then stamped the sentiment from the Reveal Wheel Sentiments with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

For the grass and dragonflies around the little scene I used Peeled Paint and Black Soot Distress Oxide ink. This isn't in the video because of a certain little person who just *needed* to have my attention. But I do talk about that in the video.

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Spotlight Stamping | Beautiful Thanks ft. Stampin' Up "Rose Wonder"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Normally I won't post using the same stamp set two days in a row, but the Rose Wonder was still out on my desk and I did say I was going to use it more often and two in a row is better than three in a month right? Maybe not, but I was so in love with how this card turned out that I had to share it right away.

This card could work for Valentine's Day, but I decided to turned it into a Thank You card, though you'll never really know that because I didn't put a greeting on the outside. Just a sentiment of thanks on the inside. Either way, this card can work for any occasion.

To begin, I used the MISTI and stamped the rose with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I stamped it twice to get a good impression, something I seem to struggle with when using large stamps.

I then used a rectangle die from Spellbinders to cut out the centre. I adhered the centre piece down to a piece of black cardstock, cut slightly larger and used my Copics to colour the smaller panel.

I added a second piece of black cardstock to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and mounted the uncoloured frame to that. I then used some super strong two-way tape to add the smaller panel, making sure that my lines matched up.

To finish off the card I used my clear Spectrum Noir glitter brush pen over the coloured petals. I made sure only to do two passes with the glitter so we don't have issues like we talked about a couple weeks back. I decided it needed just a little something more, so I added a few clear drops from Pretty Pink Posh to look like water drops on a couple of the petals.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Heart Day Series | Stamping Mash Up ft. Clearly Besotted and Lawn Fawn

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I've found the more I create cards, the bigger my stash gets, the more videos I watch and the more blogs I follow, that I tend to try to stay within one brand for my cards. Each card, from start to finish is either all Lawn Fawn, or all MFT or all Clearly Besotted etc. And that's all well and good, and maybe if I'm lucky enough to be a guest designer or (dare I dream) on one of the design teams that habit will serve me well.

As of right now, though, I'm not. I remember way back when I first started it didn't even occur to me to stay in the same brand for a whole card. First off, I didn't know that was a thing, and second I certainly didn't have the supplies to do that. LOL We've all been there, right?

Today's card is a mash up of two of my favourite companies; Lawn Fawn and Clearly Besotted.

To begin, I stamped the rose from Clearly Besotted's "Merci Beaucoup" set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the top of the dome from Lawn Fawn's "Ready, Set, Snow" set, masking the bottom. I repeated the process, stamping the bottom of the dome and used a Copic-safe liner and a straight edge to pull the lines together.

I coloured the rose and the base of the dome with Copic markers. I then used some of the little snowflakes from the Lawn Fawn set with Delicata silver ink to add the sparkles around the flower. Once that was dry, I prepped the base of the dome with my powder tool and stamped the "Valentine" with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with silver detail embossing powder.

To make the dome look a little more like glass and a little less flat, I took my lightest blue Copic marker (B000) and drew a few streaks to create the illusion of reflection. This is a relatively new technique for me and I definitely need some practice, but I think it turned out well for a first try.

Finally, to finish off the panel and because I just can't really help myself, I used the Spectrum Noir clear glitter brush pen over the petals. This time I was very careful not to add too many layers (like we saw here, I guess I learned from that mistake!).

I had to trim down the left edge of the panel as my images weren't centered, I adhered my panel to a piece of red glitter paper then mounted the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #253

Inspired by Tracey

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

It Must Be Love

Hello Halloween Series | ft. MFT's "Witch Way is the Candy?"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share a card that uses one of the smaller stamps in the set. I've been challenging myself to step away from that big main awesome stamp that is always there and use the smaller "scene builder" stamps as my focus.

Today, I chose the bat from MFT's "Witch Way is the Candy?". This is an older set, that due to popular demand was brought back this year! I got mine when it originally came out, so I don't have all the new sentiments and greetings that were included in the new release; "witch" kind of makes me sad, because MFT has some amazing sayings that can fit in almost any card for any occasion.

To begin, I trimmed a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock down to 5 1/2" x 3 3/4" and stamped the Bat from MFT's "Witch Way is the Candy?" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, masking to allow overlap and coloured them with Copic markers.

I then stamped the greeting from the same set with Memento ink as well. I used the Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay glitter pen to make all the bats shine and used Glossy Accents by Ranger on their eyes. I then sent the panel aside to dry completely.

On the right side of my standard A2 sized card base, I used the stripe border stamp and the MISTI to create a fun border. This could also be done with a spooky fun washi tape.

Once the top panel was dry, I popped it up on some foam tape and adhered it to the left side of my card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

CAS on Friday Challenge

CAS(E) this Sketch!

Challenge #243

Hello Halloween Series | ft. Lawn Fawn "Tiny Wreath" Die Set

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day!

Today's card is inspired by one of my upcoming Christmas cards - I had some time before heading to my Mom's house for our Thanksgiving dinner (Canada) and I had picked up a potted chrysanthemum in these beautiful fall colours and I wanted a card that went with it.

I hesitated a lot before getting the Tiny Wreath die because I like to get as much use as possible from a set and something that is only used at Christmas makes the decision a little harder. Since making this card I have a million ideas for all year long, and I cannot wait to get started on them.

To begin, I used the "Tiny Wreath" die set from Lawn Fawn to cut out to pieces of deep yellow and two pieces of orange cardstock. I then used the bow die to cut two sparkling bows. I offset the wreaths and used some liquid glue to keep them together, then set those aside to dry.

I stamped the smaller sunflower from Lawn Fawn's "Our Friendship Grows" stamp set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and then coloured them with Copic markers. I chose the smaller of the sunflowers because they are about the same size as the tiny wreath. Coincidence? I think not. Great job Lawn Fawn!!

I didn't have a rusty red piece of cardstock handy so I trimmed down a piece of the white and used Rusty Hinge Distress ink to get the colour I wanted. I adhered that piece to a moss green piece of cardstock and mounted those to the front of a 4x4" top fold card base.

I then used some liquid adhesive to add my wreaths and sunflowers. To finish it off, I used the Spectrum Noir clear overlay to add some shimmer to my flowers.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge

Holiday

Even though I have this in my Hello Halloween Series; this is more of a Thanksgiving Card

Hello Halloween Series | ft. Lawn Fawn "Trick or Treat"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today's card was inspired by Tracey McNeely, over on the Muse Challenge. The ladies over there are so fantastic with their designs and always provide excellent inspiration for the challenges. As you'll see at the bottom, Tracey went with a Christmas themed card, and while I love the CAS style of it, I'm not ready for Christmas just yet. Well, not ready to post the Christmas stuff just yet, anyway.

So here is my more Autumn twist on her inspiration card.

To begin, I used the smallest and forth smallest of my Spellbinder nested circle dies to cut a doughnut shape in 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the small candy corn from Lawn Fawn's "Trick or Treat" stamp set, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink, in a circle around it. I felt that my wreath was too sparse, so I flipped the stamp and made another loop with the candies facing the opposite way.

I stamped the little bat from the same set on a scrap of 110lb cardstock. I coloured all the images in with Copic markers. I used Spectrum Noir Sparkling clear overly to give the bat some shimmer, then fussy cut him out and popped him up on foam tape.

I covered my candy corns with Glossy Accents by Ranger, so they would have that shiny look. Once that was dry I popped the wreath up on foam tape and adhered it to my panel, and added the bat.

I stamped the greeting from Lawn Fawn's "Booyah" stamp set, using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink. Finally, I added a black mat to the panel to coordinate with my bat and then adhered the whole thing to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar. You can also follow me on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge #233

Inspired by Tracey McNeely's card

  Thank you all so much for your votes!

Pumpkin Spiced Love | ft. Lawn Fawn "Pumpkin Spice"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

As summer winds down and we are all getting excited for back to school, I thought I would start off the week with a fall favourite. Pumpkin spice. It's in the air, it's in the food, it's in the coffee.

Coffee, coffee, coffee! As we say good bye to sleeping in, we can say hello to pumpkin spice lattes!

To begin, I stamped the little shaker, then masked it off, then stamped the latte mug and masked that off from Lawn Fawn's "Pumpkin Spice" set using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock.

I then stamped the two pumpkins (masking them as well) from Lawn Fawn's "So Thankful" set. I then removed all the masks and stamped the little shaker sparkle from Pumpkin spice to make the scene magical, because really pumpkin spice is magical.

I coloured all the images in with Copic markers. I added some Spectrum Noir Clear overlay to the shaker bottle and the whip cream and covered those with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I stamped the first and last part of the greeting using Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink and the "Pumpkin Spice" using CTMH Autumn Terracotta ink - which turned out to be the perfect pumpkin spice colour.

I wanted a coordinating border, but didn't have quite the right shade of cardstock, so I used some Rusty Hinge Distress ink to make it close. Then I adhered the whole lot to a standard A2 sized card base.

I didn't want random brown sparkles, so instead of colouring in those little specks, I added a mini diamond from CTMH Bitty Sparkles to each of them.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

STAMPtember - Stamp It

Dream Valley Challenge

#162 - Use a Stamp of Digi Image

Happy Birthday Dragon | ft. MFT's "Magical Dragons"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Not surprisingly, I was playing around with my MFT "Magical Dragons" set when the idea for this card came about. I wanted the dragon to appear in the cave and the knight to be approaching and then the dragon to be all like "Huh? what's going on?".  I think the expression on this guy's face really just says it all.

To begin, I trimmed down two strips of green cardstock and then used the Lawn Fawn "Grassy Border" die to make my grass. I then cut a large grey circle and a smaller black circle and trimmed their bottoms to create a cave.

I used some Broken China distress ink to add a bit of colour to the background sky.

I stamped the dragon and the knight from MFT's "Magical Dragons" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and used my Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine to cut them out (click here for a first impressions review of the machine). I then coloured them with Copic markers.

I covered the knight with Spectrum Noir Sparkling Clear Overlay to make his armor shine. I love this pen, it sparkles so much in real life and it's even picked up by the camera!

To add some shading to the grass I used some Forest Moss Distress ink to darken it up some and some Hickory Smoke for around the grey of the cave.

I then used some regular tape runner to adhere everything together. I stamped the sentiment directly on the front of my standard A2 sized card base with Memento ink as well.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts, if you are viewing this on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first, you can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

MFT Sketch Challenge

Sketch #347

Update: This card was selected as Winner of Sketch Challenge #347!! Can't seem to find a winner badge though

Back to School | ft. MFT's "Class Act"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I have a card that I made for a dear friend who decided to go back to school. I cannot say how much I admire her for taking this plunge and I wanted something to do something to let her know how proud I am. I know it sounds corny, but it's the truth. I've thought about it for a long time, and never had the courage to reapply - I'm not even sure what I would go back for.

To begin, I stamped the small pencil from MFT's "Class Act" down the left side, using Memento Tuxedo black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I then stamped the girl and the greeting, all from the same set (I love this set).

I coloured all the images in with Copic markers. I used Spectrum Noir Sparkling Clear Sparkling overlay to the silver parts of the pencils, her boots and bag as well as her bows (If you are interested in seeing the difference between the Spectrum Noir and the Wink of Stella, please click here.)

I then adhered the panel to a piece of red cardstock for a fun border and then mounted the entire piece to a standard A2 sized card base.

To finish it off, I used glossy accents over the silver on the pencils and added a few sequins over the right of the girl.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll down to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for: 

Simon says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Back to School

Birthday Bear | ft. MFT's "Beary Special Birthday"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I have a super sweet little bear who's just waiting for the party to start. While I've mentioned before that it was Lawn Fawn that got me going, MFT very quickly rose in the rankings for favourite stamp companies.

Their sweet little images are perfect for nearly any type of card and it is impossible to resist using them! It took a me a little bit to get my hands on this particular stamp set, but I started seeing these impossibly amazing cards and I couldn't hold out any longer.

To begin, I stamped the bear image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I ran that through my Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine (no more fussy cutting more me!!!) and coloured him in with Copics.

I used the Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Overlay on the balloon and covered that with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

While he was drying I stamped the party hat and the pile of gifts on a narrow strip of the same paper. I used Twisted Citron Distress ink to shade the background and then coloured the images in with Copics.

I trimmed down another piece of cardstock and used my half inch corner rounder to soften those edges. I then used Milled Lavender Distress ink to add a bit of colour and then my Gelly Roll black glaze pen to add some stitching detail.

I adhered down the strip, and stamped my greeting. Then I popped the little bear up on some foam tape and placed him down.

Finally I adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss any future projects. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

My Favorite Things

Sketch Challenge #346

Crafty Animals

Challenge #5

Brother 2 Scan N Cut | part 1 - First Impressions and Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Okay, gonna apologize now for a few things. First, I know it isn't technically review day (you'll still get one on Sunday) but I just could not wait. Second, This is going to be a longer post with lots of pictures. Third, The Brother 2 CM350 Scan N Cut is not something I can do all in one review. So as I become more familiar with it I will have more.

I've had this machine less than 24 hours and I legit think I'm in love. I've had other cutting machines but this... this is like nothing else. Based on my less than 24 hours of experience with it I can all ready say that this was the best thing to come into my craft room since my first set of stamps.

So my very first impressions:

• This is not a cheap purchase. I would highly recommend making sure that this is the right product for you. There is a quilting store in the next town that (as of this writing) sells this for $799 CAD. I did not pay that. I almost died when the lady on the phone told me the price. That being said, it was far less expensive on Amazon (Canada) and I still put it off until they had a deal going on. 
• It is about the same size as a Cricut cutting machine. It weighs about the same as well, unless you have the first release of the Cricut then maybe this one is lighter, 'cause that thing was huge.
• It comes with one low tack cutting mat, one blade, a tool for the touch screen (though your finger works) a lifter - you do not want to touch the mat! two pens and one pen holder cartridge which would take the place of the blade in the machine. And more instruction manuals than I have ever seen (They aren't in the picture) All the little tools have a cute little pouch to keep them together.

Here the machine is out of the box, set up and plugged in. Sorry about the lighting, I was way too excited to fiddle around with that. I had to get a picture immediately. The touch screen looks like a hand held gaming device on the top right. It is attached to the machine, don't try to pull it off. Don't ask why I felt that was important to include. It is on a tilter so you can adjust the angle of viewing.

Here is the mat, lifter, touch screen pen and in the bag are the two markers - black and red - and the cartridge they go in.

So for my very first cuts (after test but that's boring and I don't want to bore you. What kind of blogger would I be if I did that?) I decided to use the running unicorn from MFT's "Magical Unicorn" stamp set.

The top one is the original stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. The lower one is a mirror stamp using the Paper Smooches "Stamp Mirror Blocks". You see what's happening here? 

So sidenote: I'm very new to mirror stamping and there will be a Technique Tip post about it once I practice more. 

The stamp was faint so I went over the lines with a 0.3 Staedtler Pigment Liner. I haven't been able to get Copic Multi-liners and have found that this works.

So basically all you do is stamp your images on the paper, scan it through the machine, crop the area and cut. I chose to add a mini border because it's awesome! And the machine does it all. 

Have I mentioned that this does NOT have to be hooked up to the computer or wifi? That's right this can be used as a stand-alone machine and that is currently my exact intention. It'll be a whole other post if my intentions change.

I coloured the images in with my BG Copic markers and created a spinning card! A glittering unicorn spinning card! YAY!

I used a homemade cloud stencil (spoiler: there will be a DIY post on making that coming soon too!) and Peacock Feathers Distress ink to create a cloudy background.

I sandwiched a length of Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread between my unicorns and suspended him in the oval window of my card. I stamped the greeting from the same stamp set in Memento ink and to finish it off I used Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkling Overlay pen on his horn and hooves and covered them with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I hope you all like this first impressions post on the Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine as well as the first project I used it for. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss more reviews and projects in the future. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook.

*disclaimer: I am not paid or given incentive to create product reviews. All reviews and comparisons I do are about products I have actually purchased with my own money, that I find interesting and that I hope others will find helpful. I am not sent products by companies to do reviews nor am I recognized by them for doing so.

Product Review Series | Glitter Brush Pen Comparison

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Ahh glitter. We all love it. We all hate it. We love the shine and the sparkle. We all hate that we find it everywhere for days after we've used it. But that won't stop us. We gotta have our glitter. At least I do. Glitter, glitter, glitter. Love it!

For today's review, I'll be doing a comparison between the clear Wink of Stella Glitter Brush Pen and the Spectrum Noir Sparkle Pen in Crystal Clear Overlay.

I'm going to show you a comparison of each pen and then a comparison of the results that I found.

On the left we have the Wink of Stella Clear and on the right is the Clear Spectrum Noir Sparkle pen.

In my area, I have found both pens to be accessible for purchase individually. I know that the Spectrum Noir pen can be purchased in a 3-pack on line, but I haven't seen that in my art stores.

Both pens have a brush tip and a squeezable barrel, both have click on caps to protect from damage or leaking (unless you squash it, then it'll probably leak all over. But that's on the user, not the design)

Clear Wink of Stella:

• Brush Tip
• Small narrow tip - ideal for those tough spaces
• Clear liquid
• Smooth application
• Glitter appears to be gold when held in the light
• White barrel - if you hold it up to a light you can see approximately how much is left
• Can be taken apart and filled with water and used as a regular brush pen after the glitter is gone
• Requires several passes to make the area really sparkle

Spectrum Noir Crystal Clear Overlay:

• Brush Tip
• Larger brush - less ideal for tiny spaces
• Clear liquid
• Smooth application
• Glitter appears to be iridescent when held in the light
• Black barrel - unable to see approximately how much is left
• Larger barrel - sounds like it holds more liquid
• Can be taken apart and filled with water and used as a regular brush pen after the glitter is gone
• Very thin liquid - do not squeeze this barrel over your project 

For comparison I used this cute stamp from MFT's "Beary Special Birthday" I only applied glitter to the orange area, the portion of the bow on the box was also covered with Glossy Accents by Ranger. The paper is my usual 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. The image is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured with Copic markers.

I wanted to include this image as well, I wanted to show it in my usual lighting, this is the spot in my art room where I usually take photos of my projects, before they are posted to my blog.

Comparative Thoughts:

• While both give off great sparkle, I found the Spectrum Noir really shined. It is picked up better by the camera, I needed fewer passes over an area to get the sparkle I wanted, and the glitter appears to actually be clear, while the Wink of Stella glitter had a golden shimmer to it. 
• Both need to be squeezed after opening to get them flowing. The liquid in the Spectrum Noir is very thin and after only a light amount of pressure it was dripping off the brush. Do not squeeze this over a project. I cannot stress this enough.
• I've mentioned before that I have arthritis in my hand so the larger barrel of the Spectrum Noir is more comfortable, that being said the Wink of Stella is not uncomfortable, but there is a noticeable difference in size - if you have gripping issues this may be something to consider.
• In my area (and this will differ based on where you purchase your supplies) I found the pens to be similarly priced. And even that difference varied by store.

Overall, I like both pens and think that both have their place in the craft room. In terms of super shiny-sparkliness the Spectrum Noir wins for me. I feel the quality for the amount I spent on it is excellent and the final result is more glitter. Yay Glitter. 

If you are doing smaller areas that require more detailed application - I'd recommend the Wink of Stella, the difference in brush size my not look like much in the pictures but in actual use there is definitely an advantage to having the smaller brush tip.

In the end, the choice you make is up to you depending on what you are looking for in your glitter pen and the project that you are working on. For myself, I will continue to stock both pens in my art room as I have a need for both.

I hope you like today's review. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar, if you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook. If you have any questions about these pens, or have a suggestion for a future review please toss me a line in the comments section below. I would love to hear from you.

*Disclaimer: I am not sent products for review, nor am I paid to review them. I review the products that I find interesting and that I purchase myself, with my own money and I receive no incentive, reward or payment to do so. All reviews are based off of my personal experiences with the products.